As Catholics in the United States prepare for His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit, staff at Catholic Relief Services reflect on his writings and what this visit means to them:

I’m truly excited about volunteering and attending the Papal Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict is truly an inspiration for us all. I wish my Grandfather Holtman was still alive to join me. He was a devoted Catholic and to have such an extraordinary opportunity would be a true blessing, I know he’ll be watching from the Heavens in excitement for me.

In 1987, Pope John Paul II defined the content of solidarity as “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.”
This principle of moral responsibility should be used within societies and across societies and cultures in international relations.
I’m proud to be representing the CRS family and thankful to be participating in this blessed social event!

Denise Hallock
Administrative Assistant, CRS Donor Services

There are lots of reasons to be giddy about this opportunity! I want to feel the spiritual energy and excitement of the crowd gathered for the Papal Mass. I am proud to be a representative of CRS at such an important moment for the Church in America. But most importantly, I will be giving this opportunity as a gift to my husband, whose life-long dream has been to see the Pope. And now, we will both worship with him!

Carole Zemont-Ndiaye
CRS Volunteer Program Advisor, U.S. Operations

I’ve been in Solwezi, Zambia for six and one half weeks. I’ve found that, if I walk off the main road and go through a gate, wind my way through the gravel lot in front of an old office building, pass a warehouse, and enter a small room buzzing of bees, I can buy the world’s best honey and homemade peanut butter. Things in Zambia are not found in well-advertised storefront windows along busy streets. They are tucked away, seemingly hidden to the outsider. It takes time and patience to discover them.

CRS Volunteer Joe Weber outside his radio station office in Solwezi, Zambia. Photo by CRS staff

My first six months as a CRS volunteer were spent at the CRS national office, usually assisting with writing and editing for the wide variety of initiatives that CRS and its partners are undertaking here: food security initiatives for people in areas prone to floods and droughts; hospices and clinics for tens of thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS; advocacy on behalf of communities affected by Zambia’s booming copper industry. The breadth of programming here is impressive; the far-reaching effects of these programs in the communities is even more striking.

After six months in Lusaka, I carried my new knowledge Northwest to Solwezi, setting-up shop in the offices of the most vast and rural of the Catholic dioceses in the country. Again I find myself involved in a wide variety of programs and projects, including assisting the diocesan development office with setting up a radio station.

I never know what secrets await me, hidden just off of or even along the one main road. I never know what to expect from the day-to-day life in Solwezi. But I do know that for most everyone here, the day-to-day is very much a struggle for survival. Walking down the main road, something of this struggle is apparent. But in other ways the suffering, resilience, and hope of people, like the location of great peanut butter, is only discovered with patience. Read the rest of this entry »

Debbie DeVoe, CRS’ regional information officer for East Africa, shares the latest from West Darfur in Sudan.

Peering out the helicopter window, my stomach dropped again. This time it wasn’t from the twinge of fear I felt when the nose of the U.N. chopper dipped forward on liftoff. It was from what I was seeing on the ground.

Beyond the desire to return to her village, Mariam Abdalla Bakhit hopes that her children and all women will become educated. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

We were dropping into Sileia on our way to Sirba – two large villages in West Darfur that suffered immensely during recent government efforts to drive out rebels. After flying for miles over the stark but beautiful desert landscape, golden glints of thatched huts and fences appeared in the distance. As we got closer, the view changed drastically.

Next to a cluster of picturesque family compounds was a sickening scar of scorched earth. Blackened circles clearly marked where huts had been burned to the ground. The helicopter banked left, and the scene repeated itself.

Five years in, the conflict in Darfur continues unabated. More than 2 million people are displaced from their homes, feeling too scared to return to their villages and risk another attack. Each week, the number grows. Yet, somehow, people still find hope.

Eleven-year-old Faiza Khalil Hamad is happy to be attending classes in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina: “I used to look after our sheep every day, but now I am in school. I have learned a lot so far. I like school.” Abdullah Assal is proud to be part of a Catholic Relief Services food relief committee that helps distribute emergency rations each month to thousands of people, pleased to be helping his neighbors.

Mariam Abdalla Bakhit, who has lived in an El Geneina camp since January 2007, misses her house and garden and farm and animals. Ask her how she’s doing, and she’ll say “well” — much better than when she first arrived with nothing. Her husband Abdul Karim Hassan describes their life a bit more stoically: “Sometimes it’s difficult, sometimes it’s normal.”

It can be disturbing to see just how normal life appears at times in Darfur. School girls play jump rope. Small boys drag along wooden cars tied to string. Men chat over tea and coffee in wooden shacks, while coworkers sit down for a midmorning breakfast of fried goat, beans and puffy bread. Cars zip along El Geneina’s recently paved roads, lined with shops that sell everything from soap to hookah pipes.

Sit down for a longer conversation though, and smiles disappear. Women fear for their personal safety when they have to go into the bush to collect firewood. Men can’t find enough work to support their families. An older woman shows me her paralyzed hand and the responsible bullet lodged in her upper arm.

When it comes time for me to leave — a luxury I’m well aware of — I ask my new friends Mariam and Abdul if they have any questions for me. “This is difficult to ask,” Abdul replies, “but when will the conflict end and peace come?”

Two Iraqi refugee boys outside a social services center in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo by David Snyder/CRS

Representatives from Catholic Relief Services are participating today in a forum at the National Press Club in Washington that is highlighting the plight of the 2 milliion Iraqis who have been displaced by the war. CRS is co-sponsor of the event, Villanova Law Schools Ryan Forum on Law and Public Policy.

Many Iraqi refugees have fled to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, where they live as “illegal immigrants” and are unable to get jobs, schooling for their children or even basic medical care for their families. As they try to start new lives, they are forbidden to work in many cases, and shut out from services that citizens receive. These refugees wait out the days — hoping against hope that they’ll get visas to third countries.

Catholic Relief Services is working through our partners in the Middle East, like Caritas Lebanon, to provide food, medical care and help with rent to thousands of refugees. Mark Schnellbacher, our CRS Regional Director for the Middle East, and Najla Chadra of the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center, participated in today’s panel.

CRS is also working to bring this issue to greater visibility here in the United States, particularly among American Catholics. Our CRS Advocacy staff has kept our grassroots legislative network informed on this issue and urged them to support appropriate legislation addressing the crisis. Earlier this year, CRS sponsored a delegation of eight women religious to Syria and Lebanon, where they saw first-hand the conditions in which these Iraqi refugees live and the challenges they face. They returned to the U.S. and mobilized to raise awareness of Iraqi refugees’ suffering, speaking in their congregations, universities and the media, as well as briefing members of Congress. And after speaking here today, Najla is scheduled to speak about the situation for Iraqis in Lebanon to several more groups in the Northeast.

CRS joins with Caritas Internationalis in mourning the death of Archbishop Rahho of Mosul in northern Iraq. Archbishop Rahho was kidnapped last week and was found dead today. The following is a statement from Caritas Internationalis:

Caritas says the tragic death of Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul in northern Iraq highlights the urgency of ending the violence in the country and the region.

The archbishop was kidnapped on February 29 in Mosul after a deadly shootout in which three of his companions were killed. He was found dead on Thursday 13 March.

Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organisation of 162 national Catholic charities that includes Caritas Iraq, said peacebuilding efforts need to be supported both within local communities, nationally and internationally to bring a halt to the conflict.

Caritas Iraq runs peacebuilding training courses in many places in the country, trying to break through distrust and suspicion among communities.

Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight said, “Archbishop Rahho was a man who sought peace and dialogue in a country at war. All sides of the conflict in Iraq have a duty not to target civilians. Archbishop Rahho supported peacebuilding efforts including those carried out by Caritas, which makes his death even more tragic and senseless. Caritas again calls for an end of all violence in Iraq and in the region, and for the safe release of all people taken hostage. Peace through dialogue is the only way forward.”

Caritas Iraq has been active since 1992 providing humanitarian relief, especially to new mothers and babies, and peacebuilding work since 2003.

Since 2003, CRS has been one of several Caritas Internationalis supporters of Caritas Iraq’s work with the internally displaced population and with those who have been marginalized within an increasingly desperate and violent situation.

Israel recently launched airstrikes on Gaza in retaliation for the Qassam (homemade) rockets that Gazan militants often fire into Israeli territory. Gazan civilians have suffered severe collateral damage. Omar Shaban, CRS’ Head of Office in Gaza, writes:

Omar Shaban, CRS’ Head of Office in Gaza. Photo by CRS

The situation is the Gaza Strip is unprecedented in terms of the level of suffering. Most of the victims are civilians; many houses were destroyed. When Israeli air fighters targeted Hamas’ buildings, which are empty, all the buildings in the area were severely damaged. There is no raw material available in the markets, no glass to repair the windows, no wood to repair the doors and kitchens, no tools and spare parts to repair the water and electricity networks which were damaged by the shelling. There is no fuel at all — very few cars and people are on the streets.

The entire area from the Erez crossing to Salah Din Road is under Israeli bombardment. People who live in these areas can not leave their homes. Journalists were not allowed to enter closely to these areas. Humanitarian organizations were allowed to enter into these areas only in the second day of the military operation.

Gaza’s hospitals are not able to cope with the huge number of casualties. Hospitals are treating people in the corridors because the ICUs are too small to cope with the number. Gaza City has become a dead city.

Hemmed Lukonge, CRS Tanzania’s senior program officer for PEPFAR-funded projects for orphans and vulnerable children, shares his account of meeting First Lady Laura Bush and First Lady Salima Kikwete of Tanzania.

Dr. Aisha Kigoda, Tanzania Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare, introduces the National Plan of Action to the First Ladies. Photo by Dan Griffin/CRS

Last week I was honored to meet First Lady Laura Bush and First Lady Salima Kikwete of Tanzania. These two admirable women launched Tanzania’s National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children this past Sunday, February 17, in Dar es Salaam.

The event was a celebration of the significant support these children are receiving — help that is enabling them to stay in school, stay healthy and thrive even in the absence of one or both parents. Government officers, donor agencies and implementing partners joined children and their caregivers in launching the new plan, with gift-giving, singing and dancing adding to the excitement.

Funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR, is playing a large role in Tanzania’s comprehensive strategy for protecting orphans and vulnerable children nationwide. Through PEPFAR programs, more than 200,000 children affected by HIV are receiving critical support services; as an implementing PEPFAR partner in Tanzania, Catholic Relief Services is supporting almost 52,000 of these children.

After the launch of the plan, the First Ladies toured informational booths showing the breadth of support offered to children in need. At the booth demonstrating household care, I welcomed them both and showed them how nutritional support, microfinance initiatives and income-generation activities, including food processing, handicraft making and small-scale farming, are helping families affected by HIV to make ends meet.

CRS’ Hemmed Lukonge shows the First Ladies of the U.S. and Tanzania crops grown by children and families affected by HIV. Photo by Amy Rumano/CRS

Mrs. Bush asked me about SILC, CRS’ innovative Savings and Internal Lending Communities, which she had learned of previously. I assured her that SILC is an important part of CRS’ programs in Tanzania, enabling poor families to improve their quality of life by saving small sums of money and accessing micro-loans for small business through pooled group savings.

I also shared with the First Ladies how PEPFAR-funded programs are improving the living environment of orphans in need through shelter enhancements and are increasing food supplies through home gardens. Both Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Kikwete were impressed by the pumpkins, cabbages, carrots and more grown by orphans and their caregivers.

“Through this partnership between Tanzania and the United States, we can restore lives and hope to orphans and their families,” Mrs. Bush said in a speech at the event. With the PEPFAR program now up for reauthorization by the U.S. Congress, we can only hope that this critical assistance and funding will continue for an additional five years and beyond.

They’ve been threatened with kidnapping, received anonymous envelopes containing a warning bullet and seen family members mutilated in their home country of Iraq. So they fled.

Now Iraqi refugees in neighboring Middle Eastern countries — an estimated two million people —are struggling to find pay rent, find jobs and get medical care.

Drawn by an Iraqi refugee girl in Lebanon, this picture shows the girl (in purple) below her father and older brother, who are outside a green “jail” in the top right corner. The jail represents the retention center in Beirut where illegal immigrants are housed. The Arabic words read: “Please Jesus, get my father and brother out of prison. Thanks for keeping them safe and sound for me. Amen.” Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

In Lebanon, Iraqis have faced another threat: arrest and imprisonment. Considered illegal immigrants, tens of thousands of undocumented Iraqi refugees were not allowed to work in Lebanon and were imprisoned if they overstayed their short visas. Hundreds of Iraqis have been detained in the holding cells of a retention center in Beirut — without light, fresh air or hope. Others are housed in a regular prison, sharing space with criminals.

But thanks to the efforts of the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center, these Iraqis will soon be reunited with their loved ones and will be able to look for work in their new country. With support from Catholic Relief Services, other Catholic donors and the United Nations’ refugee agency, the migrant center has negotiated an amnesty with Lebanese authorities. By paying visa fees to regularize their status and working toward a job-sponsorship program, Caritas should be able to free approximately 300 Iraqis and keep others from being detained.

“This is a major and unprecedented step forward, contributing to alleviating the plight of Iraqi refugees living in dreadful conditions in Lebanon,” says Najla Chahda, director of the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center.

The news is a wish come true for young girls like Rana, an Iraqi staying in a Caritas refugee shelter near Beirut. Like many undocumented Iraqi men over 18, her father and older brother were sent to the retention center while she, her mother and her younger siblings were sent to the migrant shelter. In a drawing, Rana imagines the retention center as a green jail with the door open, and shows her father and brother standing outside it.

“Years before the issue of Iraqi refugees became front-page news, social workers at the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center were working with compassion and skill to help these families get on their feet once they reached Lebanon,” says Melinda Burrell, Country Representative for CRS Lebanon. “Catholic Relief Services is proud to support the Migrant Center’s commitment to helping those who are bearing the brunt of the chaos in Iraq.”

The amnesty will also mean that thousands of Iraqi refugees in Lebanon can come out of hiding. Fearing arrest, many of them have rarely left their bare, cramped apartments. Without jobs or a connection to the Lebanese people around them, and traumatized by what they lived through in their home country, Iraqi refugee families have fallen into poverty and despair.

Caritas will continue to cooperate with the Lebanese government to eliminate obstacles that keep Iraqis poor, like fees and difficulties in applying for residency permits. Since the permits require an employer to act as a sponsor, Caritas also plans to link prospective employers with Iraqis. Continuing its ongoing social work, Caritas will follow up with freed detainees, making sure they have the papers they need to avoid being arrested again.

In the coming months, families can look forward to joyful reunions. Prisoners should start being released on a rolling basis starting in late February 2008. Just as in Rana’s drawing, the door is open now.

Lane Hartill, CRS’ regional information officer for West Africa, recently visited eastern Congo, where he documented CRS’ response to the sexual violence that is an atrocity of the ongoing war.

The gynecologists at Panzi Hospital, a CRS partner, are some of the best in Congo at repairing reproductive systems that have been destroyed. But I wanted to find out how you fix a woman’s mind, how you heal her spirit.

So I turned to Cécile Mulolo Kamwanya, a psychologist at Panzi Hospital. She’s the head of the psychologist unit. It’s her and her team’s job to help heal women’s psyches, which are sometimes as damaged as their reproductive system.

Cécile told me a story that haunted me for days.

About a year ago, a little girl - I’ll call her Sylvie - was at home in Katama, a community very close to a forest where Hutu rebels, the same ones that committed the atrocities in Rwanda in 1994, are hiding.

The story unfurled like the others: the knock on the door; the demand for money; Sylvie’s father shot. In the confusion her mother fled. Sylvie was left in the house. The seven men took her to the forest, undressed her, and kicked her legs out from under her.

The last thing Sylvie remembered, Cécile said, before completely blacking out, was her legs being spread and men, as Sylvie put it, sleeping on her.

When she came to, she didn’t know what had happened or where she was. She tried to stand up but couldn’t. When she finally made it, she realized she was incontinent. She wandered for two days before an old man found her and led her by the hand back to her village.

She eventually made it to Panzi. But she was physically too small – only 10 years old – to be operated on. So for the next three or four years, she waits, no longer able to control the urine that seeps out of her.

“With a little girl like that, the first thing you must do is show affection,” says Cécile. “You must approach them even if they smell bad. If she came to your office, you’d open all the windows. The urine flows out of her. She smells very bad.

But Cécile loves her. They chat. Cécile puts her arm around Sylvie, as if she was her daughter. The whole time, Cécile is pretending she doesn’t smell anything. Cécile says a recent conversation went like this:

“I tell her to be patient, they’re going to take care of you, but you’re still too little. I ask her what she wants to do with her life.

‘I can’t get married. I’m going to be a nun.’

Why do you want to be a nun? Why don’t you want to marry?

‘Who’s going to want me? What man is going to love me?’

Be patient. And when they take care of you, you’ll be healed. You can then marry.

‘But I’m no longer a virgin. I’ve lost my virginity. Can someone who has lost her virginity, can a man love them?’

The value of a woman isn’t based on her virginity,” Cécile tells her.

Sylvie developed hatred toward men, says Cécile. But slowly she convinced her that all men aren’t bad.

“Only the ones that did this to you,” she says. “You’re papa was a good man. He loved your mama, didn’t he? He loved you. Was your papa bad?

No, Sylvie, said. Her papa wasn’t bad.

Bridget Chisenga. Photo by CRS

President Bush, in a speech this morning before leaving tomorrow for Africa with First Lady Laura Bush, made reference to a woman who made a profound impression on him: Bridget Chisenga, who works for CRS Zambia to promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy, the lifesaving medication for people living with HIV.

Bridget works for AIDSRelief, the CRS-led consortium that is funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Congress is currently considering legislation to reauthorize and expand PEPFAR for the next five years.

“Auntie Bridget,” as she is known to her co-workers and clients, spent several weeks in the fall here in the U.S. visiting schools and parishes and sharing her experiences of living with HIV and working with others with HIV. She joined President Bush for a World AIDS Day commemoration, and this morning, he recalled what she said that day:

Last November, I met a woman from Zambia named Bridget Chisenga. Bridget’s husband died of AIDS, and she expected to meet the same fate. Then she went to a clinic operated by Catholic Relief Services, funded by the American people. Today, Bridget is healthy. She has a job at the clinic, where she helps provide AIDS medicine to others. I want our fellow citizens to hear what she said: “This face is alive and vibrant because of your initiative. I would like to thank you.”